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Walmart To Offer iPhone 5 Off Contract, Unlimited Service For $45 Monthly

For consumers willing to buy the phone upfront, Walmart's Pre-Paid iPhone 5 service is extremely affordable.

In what’s sure to be disruptive to carriers like AT&TAT&T and Verizon, Walmart is prepped to offer a no-contract option for AppleApple‘s iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, and they’re doing it at an incredibly affordable monthly cost.

Straight Talk, Walmart’s pre-paid cell phone service, is operated by TracFone Wireless Inc. and offers consumers no-contract monthly service for data, text, and talk. The catch, as with most pre-paid services, is the full priced upfront cost of the phone. In this case, Apple’s 8GB iPhone 4 will retail for $449, and the 16GB iPhone 5 for $649.

However, the monthly cost is where things get compelling: Just $45 for unlimited data, unlimited text, and unlimited voice. Crank the plan up to $60 per month and Straight Talk augments your service with unlimited international calling to more than 1,000 destinations in Mexico, Canada, India, and other countries. To put this in perspective, it’s $69.99 for just unlimited voice from AT&T.

What else makes this a big deal? Typically pre-paid vendors operate with an inventory of older phones (for example, Virgin Mobile just got Samsung’s Galaxy S II). The fact that Walmart will offer iPhone 5 — a device only 4 months old — without a contract could put the hurt on carriers like Verizon and AT&T.

When you do the comparative math, things get even more interesting. On AT&T, having an iPhone 5 with a 2 year contract and a plan supporting unlimited voice, unlimited text, and 5GB of data will cost consumers roughly $3550. With Straight Talk’s plan, cost of ownership over 2 years is only $1729, and that includes the full price of the iPhone 5.

This is indeed a game changer. The iPhone 4 and 5 prepaid plans will be available at Walmart at retail and online beginning tomorrow, January 11th 2013.

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I switched to Straight Talk from Verizon 2 months ago. Best cell phone decision I ever made. $45.00 monthly for unlimited everything. I was paying $125.00 to Verizon with limits on my talk time. Straight Talk rents space on Verizon’s towers, so the coverage area is vast. I’ve had no problems at all!

But is it really unlimited? My understanding is that it’s nominally unlimited, at least for data, and is actually capped. I pay Verizon $90/mo. but I can use all the data I need–including for VOIP and SMS, to ease the voice minute crunch. After 6GB I pay $10/GB for more data in a month, but I can use all I want. Is this true for Straight Talk? And if not, how would it be a “good decision” if my data was throttled for 2/3 of every month?

For someone like myself, who uses around 1.0-1.3 GB per month, this would be a good deal. I currently pay AT&T around $80 per month for 450 minutes, 1000 texts, and 2gb of data. From my understanding I will be able to use my current iPhone 4S on the Straight Talk network and it uses the AT&T GSM network. The only thing I won’t be able to do is use the visual voicemail. Trivial considering I’d be saving $35/month.

Was going to consider moving to Verizon but they now force people into a shared data plan. What about those like me who have no other person or device to share data with? You still want to charge me $100/month? No thank you!!!!

I have thought about switching from Verizon to StraightTalk – this makes it even more enticing – but I was worried about coverage and if there are hidden costs/charges for things like calling other networks, etc.

No “hidden costs,” but a “hidden” data cap at 2GB/mo and 200mb/day. If that’s not a problem for you, there is no charge for calling other networks (though there are for calling other COUNTRIES– but that’s true for Verizon as well). For me, the data cap is a deal-breaker.

I’ve had Straight Talk for over 2 years. After getting shafted by Verizon and due to an uncertain work situation I at first went with another prepaid service. They were allright but there were some gaps in their coverage. I swithched to Straight Talk and have been very pleased with it. I have used it in the midwest across the country to Oregon down to Arkansas and have had coverage almost completely. There were some minor gaps but I think you will find that almost anywhere and with any carrier. Its true that Verizon has real good coverage, but I can live with some minor inconvience once in a while just to not have to commit to a contract with anyone, and with Verizon in particular. Straight Talks prices are great and their unlimited is truly unlimited, not an advertising gimmick that the other major carriers use to get you in a contract, then do a bait and switch and then limit their “unlimited” conditions.

Is it unlimited? My understanding is that it’s “soft capped” at 2GB/mo. and 200mb/day. THAT sounds like “bait and switch” to me. I generally use 6 ~ 10 GB/mo. I have no objection to paying for them, but I believe Straight Talk has no such option. If I used that much, they would simply throttle me. Verizon simply charges me for anything over the 6GB/mo. I pay for already, at $10/GB. I can’t afford to not have usable data for 2/3 of every month just to save $45 off my $90/mo. Verizon bill.

I know this sounds to good to be true, but I have to say, I am currently a walmart prepaid straight talk carrier. I have been for about 4 years now and the service is fantastic. I always have bars, and I have no issures with service. I get service just like any other “name brand” contract having customer. I thingk people get caught up in the name of the phone and carrier and trying to be like everyone else. When they get the bill they know they are over paying and can’t afford it. It is the trying to “keep up with the Jones syndrome.” Well done walmart for getting together with apple and doing this.